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Proxim: new CEO will unveil new strategy next month to counter poor news

He took over as head of Proxim in January, and Pankaj Manglik, CEO of six months is now confident enough of his future to unveil his plans for the networking company, say sources.

What news there has been about Proxim recently has been either dull, or dreadful.  It's not yet a month since the company published results for Q1 08, showing that a net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 was $5.3 million, or $0.22 per diluted share. That was two million worse than the same quarter last year.

Losses down; actual sales were down even more. Revenues for the quarter were reported as $11.2 million  - a drop of 33% compared to $16.7 million reported in the same quarter last year.

Good news has been hard to find. This week, a hefty price cut ("Proxim redefines the price/performance ratio of high-performance wireless networks," said the spin doctors) on Orinoco AP 700 access point radios, which came down by $100, "bringing the new MSRP to just $349," according to the official announcement; plus a cut of theOrinoco WiFi clients, which now range from $55-75, was greeted with indifference by market and rivals.

There was the encouraging story of an award: Network Products Guide, a Silicon Valley Communications publication, named the Proxim QuickBridge 60250 point-to-point wireless bridge a winner of the 2008 Product Innovation Award.  Clearly, the new boss wants achievements on a larger scale than these.

As to what he will announce next month, only rumour and speculation is available. However, he will be travelling around Europe in mid-July, kissing babies and lunching analysts, so we can expect dribbles of the new strategy over the next few days, as the finance departments get out their spreadsheets and discuss possibilities.

Manglik was founder and former CEO of Aruba, where - in the days before commentators really understood the importance of the Indian technology  explosion - most pundits dismissed him as just some techie with a funny name.

His departure from Aruba was greeted with ill-disguised scorn, with one report remarking:

Aruba first let it be known that it was looking to replace Manglik with a "big name CEO" [ed. note: and one whose name doesn't sound like an anagram] back in February 2003 (see S.Lo No Go as Aruba CEO). It wanted someone with more high-powered corporate clout than the "smart, technical" Manglik. The firm eventually found one in the form of ex-Cisco-er Don LeBeau in January this year (see LeBeau Dons Aruba Crown.)

He left that company in 2004, and hasn't been hitting the headlines since. Forbes says only that:

Prior to joining Proxim, Mr. Manglik was an independent consultant advising the boards of directors of venture capital-funded startup companies.

However, signs are that the rise of Aruba since then, and the new respect given to Indian technology graduates, will mean his new message will be listened to.

See the official release about his promotion to joint CEO and President.